Myanmar Military Unleashes Heavy Airstrikes in Shwegu After Resistance Seizes Convoy Vessel

The Myanmar military has launched intense airstrikes on Shwegu Township in northern Kachin State after resistance forces captured a vessel from a military supply flotilla traveling upstream along the Ayeyarwady River, according to local sources.

The 15-vessel convoy—comprising attack craft, cargo carriers, pusher tugboats, and a sand dredger—had departed from the Mandalay Region to resupply junta positions in Kachin State.

On August 28, a joint force of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the People’s Defence Force (PDF) launched drone strikes against the flotilla near Katha Township.

The attack tore open the hull of a key pusher tugboat, leaving it unable to navigate. Junta forces abandoned the damaged boat near Bokone Village under guard, but KIA and PDF troops successfully seized it the following day.

“The vessel seized was a pusher tugboat used to push barge carriers,” a Shwegu resident close to resistance forces told KNG. “Its hull was torn open during the attack upstream from Katha. The junta left it near the village with a few guards, but the PDF managed to capture it.”

Following the loss, the remaining flotilla docked at the river port in Shwegu to unload supplies, where military authorities commandeered local civilian trucks and vans for transport.

While docked, the convoy came under repeated attacks from resistance suicide drones and improvised rockets.

In retaliation, the junta escalated its air offensive, deploying fighter jets and Y-12 transport planes to strike Shwegu and nearby riverside villages, including Kyuntaw, Bokone, Tharyarkone, Yaele, and Sitat.

Local sources reported that military aircraft dropped as many as 60 to 70 bombs in a single day, inflicting heavy damage on the surrounding area. KNG could not independently verify the exact daily bomb count or reported military casualties.

Heavy ground clashes and airstrikes continue along the Ayeyarwady River as the military struggles to secure its supply route into northern Myanmar.